Casters, Girls, and Bounty Heads Episode 7
by Chris Maldonado
Summary: CGBH episode 7


Episode 7: New Found Glory rocks…

Oz relaxed on the couch and was mumbling something to himself. He had his headphones on so it was safe to say he was singing a song to himself. He was starting to get loud, and this was drawing him attention. Jim and Ed looked up from their chess game to see what the growing noise was about and where it was coming from.

Ryoko heard the singing and walked over to see who was doing it. "What are you doing?" Ryoko asked.

Oz looked up at her and grinned. She was very beautiful. Her hair was always nice and smelt sweet. And her eyes always had a graceful twinkle to them, even though there were times when she was anything but she had her own style that no one could take away from her. She was certainly independent, and wasn't intimidated by anyone. She also tried to hide her emotions sometimes. At first anyone who meets her would think she's just a tease, but that was a mask. She was much more caring once she got to know you. Maybe one day she would completely open up to him. In any case he cared for her a lot, maybe even _loved_ her, but he still wasn't sure. He wanted to say he did, but then, what if she didn't love _him_? For now he was happy with caring for her, he would know for sure how he truly felt about her one day. "Just enjoyin' a song and singin' about my girl." Oz winked at Ryoko as he answered her question.

Immediately Ryoko grew suspicious, whenever he was this nice he was plotting something, and it was either a good thing or a bad thing. There were times when he was planning to do something nice, and there were other times when he had broken something. The real problem was finding out which it was, "Did you break something of mine again?" Ryoko gave him an interrogative look.

Oz looked away in indignation, "Of course not, can't a guy be happy without having an ulterior motive?" Oz tried to appear as innocent as possible.

"No." Ryoko answered.

"And if I stopped, ever thinking of you, I'd probably choke on the words I'd never say…" Oz serenaded Ryoko and actually did a good job of it.

Ryoko stood back a little as Oz sat up to sing to her, "New Found Glory."

"Yup." Oz nodded

She was taken unexpectedly by this personal bard before her, "I'm _not _impressed." Ryoko crossed her arms and turned away.

Oz gave a slightly perplexed look, her not being impressed meant one of two things, either she was, or she wasn't. Oz wasn't completely certain which it was, so he simply shrugged and lied back down.

"Ed's impressed." Ed was sitting on her head when she said this and gave an upside down smile and gave a thumbs down, which was a thumbs up the way she was facing.

"Thanks Ed." Oz said.

"I thought that was who it was," Jim said as he looked up from the electronic components he was working on, "New Found Glory is cool."

"Hey Ed remember to take care of that thing I asked you to do for me."

"Roger!" Ed gave a mock salute and proceeded to sit upright and type away on her computer.

"What do you have Ed workin' on?" Ryoko's curiosity was sparked.

"You needn't worry," Oz grinned and then closed his eyes to take a nap.

Ryoko sighed in slight frustration but shrugged it off quickly, "Whatever," she said, and walked off.

The next day…

"New Found Glory, Glory, Glory, Glorrryyyyy," Ed was doing cartwheels as she sang about her happiness. All the others did was make sure they didn't get kicked. Ed was wearing blue short-shorts with a black cut-off t-shirt and a blue scarf. The scarf was a little too long and as she did cartwheels it swan through the air.

"So this was what you were planning?" Ryoko asked, looked over at Oz.

"Yup," He replied, "Figured it was about time we all enjoyed another night out." Oz looked Ryoko over, she had on a full black skin-tight full-body suit and a red jacket. She also had a red handkerchief tied around her neck. She had on black boots and in a way had a retro look to her, but still very attractive.

"This cool, they're supposed to be really awesome live." Jim added. Jim had on his mechanics jacket, he had it cleaned and now the read and blue star on his right pocket had more color to it. He had on a dark-tan pair of cargo pants on with his usual pair of work boots.

"So I understand," Oz said. Oz decided that he was going to go get some t-shirts for everyone, "I'm gonna go get a few things, you guys get some good seats okay?"

"Sure thing," Jim said.

"Roger!" Ed stopped cart-wheeling to salute again.

"Okay," Ryoko waved to Oz and walked off with Jim and Ed.

Oz walked off and went down the block to the stands set out on the street then noticed a man running down the street away from someone else. The one doing the chasing had on a suit and was carrying a gun of some kind. As Oz looked at the gun he realized it was a caster. The man being chased ran up to Oz.

"You gotta help me!" He grabbed Oz's jacket, "That guys trying to kill me!"

Oz was pulling the mystery man off of himself, then the man chasing stopped and aimed it at both Oz and the mystery man. Seeing this Oz pulled out one of his own casters and aimed. He pulled the trigger just as the other man did the same. The casters fired and a storm of energy filled the air. The incantations held in the shells bounced around combating each other; the blue and green energy flying in a small circle. All of a sudden a bright flash and the energy disappeared, the gust of wind also disappeared. The man in the suit loaded his caster again and fired. Oz simply pulled the trigger again and the shells cancelled out once more. Oz immediately grabbed the mystery man and they dived behind a piece of broken wall. Oz looked at the mystery man, "Who are you and what does this guy want with you?"

"I'm Jordan," He answered, "That guy over there belongs to some gang, they said that they wanted me and my band buddies to pay a 'service and protection fee' so we could have our concert here and told them to f$k off."

Oz ran the name and face through his head and suddenly remembered, "Hey, you're the lead singer of New Found Glory aren't you?"

"Yeah, you heard of us?" Jordan asked.

"Hell yeah I've heard of you guys! You're my favorite band! That's why I'm here!" Oz stood up and walked out from behind the wall. The man in the suit turned and saw him, he aimed his caster at Oz.

"Where is he?" The suited man asked.

"No need to worry, you're not gonna collect today." Oz said.

"I'm gonna have to disagree with you pal, I've got to, it's business, you understand." The man kept his caster aimed at Oz.

Oz had his caster raised also, "Take the day off then, it's easier on both of us that way."

"Sorry no can do."

"Suit yourself." Oz pulled the trigger and fired.

The man returned fire and quickly reloaded his caster again. "I know you're out of shells in that gun, and there's no way your fast enough to reload in time." The man gave a wry grin.

"You got me there," Oz said, and holstered his caster, "But you seem to have not noticed something," He said with a grin on his face.

"Oh?" The man said, "And what might that be?"

Oz pulled out his second caster, "I've got two, three-shot casters!" Oz aimed and pulled the trigger. His first shot was cancelled out but Oz fired two consecutive shots; too fast for the man to reload. His last shot had been a #7, which left the man incased in a small iceberg.

"Oh man that was awesome! I owe you big time!"

Oz holstered his caster, "No problem." Then he an idea flashed into his head, "Hey, since you owe me, can I cash in on that today?"

Jordan looked at Oz, "Sure, whatta want?"

Oz began to tell him, "well …"

At the concert…

The Stadium was full to the brim with people ready to rock-out. Sugarcult just finished the opening show with "Bouncin' off the walls again." Almost as soon as they finished the stage began to rotate and the lights began changing different colors and the giant holoscreens started flashing "New Found Glory" and images of each of the band members flashed through. The crowd cheered and "My friends over you" began to play. The crowd cheered louder. The holoscreens showed the band playing their instruments from changing angles and camera views, and a technician behind the scenes changed the colors and distorted the images with different effects all the while. The band played several songs, "Heaven isn't too far away," "The Never ending story," "The minute I met you," and a few others almost without pausing.

"Where the hell is he?" Ryoko asked to no one in particular.

"I still don't see him." Jim looked around.

"Oz Oz nowhere to be found," She scanned the area as she precariously balanced on the top of a stack of crates put out for people to sit on.

Ryok decided that she would look for him and took to the air. "If he's gotten himself into trouble…" and she trailed off after that, hovering above the crowd.

Finally they paused for a minute and let the crowd start cheering louder and louder. Then Jordan started talking, "I met a fan tonight, and helped me out in a big way," The crowd cheered more, "And he asked me if I could send out a message to someone special to him, and dedicate our next song to her."

Ryoko heard that but paid no real attention to it. She was still searching for Oz.

"This next song is "Eyesore" and Oz is dedicating it to his girl Ryoko, Oz says: 'I love you.'"

"What!" Ryoko was taken aback by that announcement. Now she really wanted to know where Oz was. _He loves me?_ She thought. She looked around and suddenly realized she was one both of the giant holoscreens, realizing this she nearly froze and blushed, not sure what to do. Then she saw the screens split and show Oz standing near the front of the crowd by the stage. Oz simply stood there and grinned. Ryoko smiled and flew straight for him. She wrapped her arms around him and looked him in the eyes, "I love you too." She said, and they kissed. The camera on them all the while.

Once the song finished Jordan stopped to say, "We also have another dedication to make, this one goes out to a gal named Ed from a guy named Jim, Ed, he thinks you're a cutie." The band started playing "That thing you do."

"Huh!" Jim nearly fell back with amazement and confusion. He had no idea how they knew, then he realized it, "Oz" he said to himself. _Guess he knew the whole time_, Jim thought, he figured no one really noticed that he had a crush on Ed. Even though she was very odd, there was something about her, something that made her beautiful to him. He decided that he couldn't ask for a better way to tell her than this.

At that same moment Ed had stopped dancing and was also caught off guard. She looked over at Jim, who was staring at her, he realized she saw him and he quickly looked away trying to hide his blushing face. Ed looked at him blankly then made a huge grin, "Jimmy!" She jumped off the boxes and ran over to him. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek.

Jim blushed even more with that kiss, "No problem," He said. The cameras were on both couples, and the concert continued on late into the night.

Go Jim go…

To be continued…


End file.
